User Guide

Chapter 6: Band-in-a-Box PowerGuide
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Band-in-a-Box chordsheet area.
As well as entering the chords for your song, the Chordsheet is where you put in style variations, fills, and breaks.
The basic procedures for entering information in the Chordsheet follow, but be sure to see the right-click contextual
menu for the Chordsheet for alternate methods and additional features.
Quick Song Settings
Typing special words, instead of chord names, in the Chordsheet will make the following settings:
begin <Enter> - sets the beginning of the chorus to the current bar
chorusend <Enter> - sets the end of the chorus to the current bar
end <Enter> - sets the end of the song to the current bar
tkc <Enter> - sets key signature to C, tkbb would set it to Bb
trc <Enter> - transposes song to key of C
t125 <Enter> - sets tempo to 125
Typing Chords
The basic way of entering a song in Band-in-a-Box is by typing the chords for the song into the Chordsheet.
The location of the black highlight cell determines where chords will be entered. Use
either the mouse or the cursor arrow keys on the computer keyboard to move the
chord highlight cell around the Chordsheet. Click on any bar to position the highlight cell, then type in the chords
for that bar.
The highlight cell covers two beats, or half a bar in 4/4 time. Two chord names can be typed into the highlight cell
(separated by a comma e.g. C, C#dim) so up to four chords per bar may be entered.
To enter a chord, type its name using standard chord symbols (like C, or Fm7, or Bb7, or Bb13#9/E) and press the
return key. The chord name(s) you have typed will be entered in the Chordsheet at the current location of the
highlight cell. Each time the return key is pressed the highlight cell advances 2 beats, or ½ a measure.
Note: To view a list of Band-in-a-Box chord names, please refer to the online Help.
To start typing in chords:
- Go to the top (bar 1) of the Chordsheet by clicking on measure 1.
- Blank the Chordsheet by selecting the “New” option from the File menu, or with the keystrokes
+n.
- The highlight cell will be at the start of bar 1, reposition it if desired.
- When you have the highlight cell positioned where you want to enter a chord type the name of the chord you
would like. For example, type c6 to get the C6 chord.
You should never have to use the shift key, as Band-in-a-Box will sort this out for you. Here are some other tips for
easy chord entry:
- Use b for a flat, e.g. Bb7. It is not necessary to type upper or lower case; the program will sort this out for you.
- Use # or 3 for a sharp, e.g. F#7. (# is the uppercase symbol of 3, so you can actually type F37 to get F#7.
Band-in-a-Box will sort out the case, saving you the effort of using <SHIFT>3 to type the # symbol).
- Use / for slash chords with alternate Roots such as C7/E (C7 with E bass).
- Use a comma (,) to enter 2 chords in a cell. In the example below, we would type Ab9,G9 to get the 2 chords in
the cell (on beat 3 and 4 of bar 2).